Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Original Pantry

As most of you know, the Ambassador Hotel pantry is where Robert F. Kennedy, having just won the California primary, was shot (above, with busboy Juan Romero).

Reader Grant e-mails in a pic he took in late 2001 or early 2002 of the Ambassador Hotel's pantry. He writes:

A couple years ago I managed to get a tour inside the Ambassador Hotel from one of the security guards that were on the grounds 24/7. He took me inside to see the kitchen where Kennedy was shot. He showed me an 'x' on the ground where he said his head was when he fell. I found his story to be a bit fishy for some reason. So I went and did some research and found pictures of the actual pantry where he was shot. I then went back in the hotel with my camera and found the actual pantry. Strangely enough it was barricaded by a plywood wall and was locked up. He let me in and I took this picture. The peach colored doors in the middle of the picture are the doors he came out of from the hallway leading to the ballroom. He was shot right next the the sink, basically where that broom is leaning.

I thought it would be a good one to put up because it shows where Kennedy actually got shot. I think my picture was taken in late 2001 or early 2002.

The other picture I found is a police picture taken after he was shot in 1968. I just did that to compare them.

5 Comments:

ziabonita said...

yeah I've been there, too...I shot a movie inside and recieved a "grand" tour. There was a very strange and dark energy in the spot where Bobby was shot...but overall the fact that this property has been abandoned for about 25 years is what I am really concerned with. At a certain point, things should just be left alone....they should revert back to the community as "shared open space". "Development" of abandoned properties is never really about doing the right thing, it's usually about greed. In this case the greed of LAUSD to blow $14 billion on construction, when the drop out rate is close to 50%...Will new schools keep kids in school? WIll it raise their test scores? Don't know...Don't really think so. By the way...the building could not really be saved...it was really beyond repair...but as far as I know the Colisium in Rome is just one of thousands of properties in the world that have not been "redeveloped"...they stand as a physical mark of history. LAUSD is building about 5 schools in this neighborhood...plus the 3 at the Ambassador site...they all look cheaply constructed...built to last 20 years and not 100 or 1000. It is a darn shame that we think we are better and more advanced that our predecessors...sure the kids get new schools...but they still can't read and they will not have the opportunity to see history first hand. I want to go jogging on that little field they planted...it should be open to the public after school hours, right? Anyone know who I can talk to about that???

anyone who you could talk to about providing liability insurance, maintenance, and security for your usage? as with most people who look at this situation, your accusations, wants, and needs are completely one-sided. when are the people of los angeles going to step out of the negativity and try to look positively at what the district does and come out and try to help facilitate good change in their schools and neighborhoods?? god, people love to complain about the district and do absolutely nothing to change a thing. go volunteer at a school or something you freeloader.

Lica Sto is just an idiot: she is some big government liberal who believes that the government can waste our money on more schools for illegal alien Mexican gang members. Yeah, tearing down a monument for more illiterate smucks who will work at McDonald's anyway. That is a very good use of our resources. We ought to privatize LAUSD, and defund the program. It does not work. The results are terrible. ABOLISH LAUSD today!